Mitochondrial DNA variation in Atlantic and Pacific walruses

We used restriction enzyme analysis of polymerase chain reaction amplified mitochondrial DNA to assess genetic differentiation of two subspecies of walruses: Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) from Greenland and Pacific walruses (O. r. divergens) from the Chukchi Sea. Each subspecies has...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian Journal of Zoology
Main Authors: Cronin, Matthew A., Hills, Susan, Born, Erik W., Patton, John C.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Canadian Science Publishing 1994
Subjects:
Animal Science and Zoology
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Chukchi Sea
Greenland
Pacific
Chukchi
Odobenus rosmarus
walrus*
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/z94-140
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z94-140
Description
Summary:We used restriction enzyme analysis of polymerase chain reaction amplified mitochondrial DNA to assess genetic differentiation of two subspecies of walruses: Atlantic walruses (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) from Greenland and Pacific walruses (O. r. divergens) from the Chukchi Sea. Each subspecies has distinct monophyletic mitochondrial DNA haplotypes. Mitochondrial DNA sequence divergence between Atlantic and Pacific subspecies was 1.0–1.6%. Several haplotypes were observed for each subspecies. Haplotype frequencies varied among sampling locations of Atlantic walruses, suggesting that mitochondrial DNA may be useful for walrus stock identification.

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